China by Edward Rutherfurd (historical books to read TXT) 📕

the emperor likes to listen to the sound of falling rain. Farther off you can see a steep hill, the top of which is the highest point in the Yuanmingyuan. That hill is in fact on another island. At the base of the hill is the lovely Apricot Blossom Spring Villa, a favorite place in the spring. Of great importance also is the Island of Shrines, where there are temples to all the important religions.”

And so he went on until he had described the nine islands. And all the time he was speaking I, who truly love the finer things of life, was gazing in rapture across the lake at this silent, watery stillness, in the heart of the paradise at the center of the world.

“Thank you,” said the Noble Consort Yi when he was done. “Very good.” She turned to me. “Some women,” she remarked, “use red paint on their lower lip, in the middle, and smear it down into a little red square towards their chin. I hardly ever do that. Do you think I should? What’s your opinion?”

I stared at her in amazement. “My opinion, Noble Consort?” I asked. I didn’t know why she was asking me. What did it mean? And what on earth was I supposed to say?

“It’s quite a simple question,” she said. “And if you don’t answer at once, it will be disobedient.”

I hoped this was some kind of joke, but I couldn’t be sure. “Your servant thinks the Noble Consort’s face has a perfect elegance and can hardly imagine it could be bettered,” I replied. Now as it happens, I’ve never liked that fashion of smearing the lower lip red. So what I really wanted to say was: Don’t do it for me. But of course I couldn’t say that.

“So you’re telling me not to,” she said with a smile.

“Your humble servant could never do such a thing,” I replied.

“Oh well,” she said, “you can go now. Come back tomorrow.”

—

The next morning she was waiting for me with several of her ladies. Her little son the prince was there, too. And the first thing I noticed was that she had painted her lower lip with a red square. I bowed low and didn’t say anything. Nor did she.

Had she done it to tease me? I wondered. Or to remind me that my opinion counted for nothing? Be careful, I told myself. This may have nothing to do with you at all. She’d probably been asking everybody before deciding to give the red lipstick a try. Whatever her reasons, it wasn’t for me to say a word unless she asked me, which she didn’t. But I had the feeling, all the same, that she was teasing me for her private amusement.

When I had done her nails, which didn’t take long, she called one of her ladies and told me to attend to her nails as well.

I’d just finished this second task when everyone in the room suddenly turned towards the door and bowed. So I turned, too.

I’d caught sight of the empress once or twice in the Forbidden City, but I’d never been in her presence before, so I immediately went on my knees and knocked my head on the floor in the kowtow.

“Just bow,” I heard her say softly. So I scrambled to my feet and bowed low.

“Bow lower,” called the Noble Consort Yi. So I tried to do that and nearly fell on my face. Then I realized that both she and the empress were laughing. Not maliciously. They were just having a little fun with me. “This is Lacquer Nail, the one I told you about,” said the Noble Consort.

“I have heard only good things about you, Lacquer Nail,” said the empress. And she smiled at me.

I knew she was pretty, of course. But I must say, seeing her close up for the first time, I was really amazed. Dainty features, flawless skin: She looked like a painting on a vase.

So how was it possible that she hadn’t given the emperor a child? Mr. Liu had said she was barren. It might be the case. Or was the emperor not attracted?

I’m not impressed by conventional prettiness. If she’d been a painted doll with a cold heart, I suppose her character might have put him off. But she wasn’t like that at all. A sweet gentleness radiated from her. She was a lovely person in every way. Any man would want to take her in his arms. And if you feel affection, then it’s going to be all right on the night, I always think. I could remember that, even if I had been chopped myself.

And I felt sorry for her, because she must have felt that she’d failed the Son of Heaven and the whole empire, not to mention her own clan, who were losing a lot of face when they might have expected all kinds of riches, if only she’d produced an heir. And every day the poor girl had to walk around the palace and know that people were looking at her and thinking: There goes the pretty wife who was a failure in the bedroom.

So I wondered how she felt about the concubine who’d done so much better and given the emperor a son. Was she jealous? However nice a person she was, I thought, it would be hard for her not to hate the Noble Consort Yi.

Yet this didn’t appear to be the case. Not that day or any time afterwards. Quite the contrary. As far as I could see, the empress loved the Noble Consort Yi like a sister.

How had the concubine done it? I still don’t know. Perhaps she saw the empress was lonely and needed a friend. Was it possible the empress didn’t really like being intimate with her husband and wasn’t sorry if someone else performed that duty? As for discussing state affairs with His Imperial Majesty like the Noble Consort did, I can’t imagine the empress had the desire or